A Touch Of Christmas Magic

The recognition dawned quickly on his face. ‘Well...no.’ He put his head in his hands for a second and shook it. When he pulled his head back up he had a sorry smile on his face and shrugged his shoulders. ‘Sorry.’

She gave a little nod of her head. ‘No problem.’

She heard him suck in a breath and his shoulders relaxed a little. ‘I do have a good reason for asking you.’

She raised her eyebrows. ‘You do?’

He nodded slowly. ‘I do.’ He was being serious now. ‘Valerie Glencross, the director of midwifery, suggested we should offer you a promoted post.’

Bonnie sat bolt upright in her chair. It was the last thing she’d expected to hear. ‘She did?’

His gaze connected with hers. ‘She did.’ For a second it felt as if time had frozen. She was looking into the brightest pair of green eyes she’d ever seen. She’d been right. He had little gold flecks in his irises. It made them sparkle. It was making her hold her breath as she realised exactly what kind of an effect they were having on her.

‘She did,’ he reiterated. ‘It seems your CV had already impressed her. I’m guessing that your telephone interview with her went well. She wanted me to meet you and ask if you’d consider being Ward Sister on a temporary basis.’

‘Me?’ Bonnie was more than a little surprised. ‘But you must have senior staff working here already. Wouldn’t it make more sense to have someone take charge who is familiar with the set-up?’

He gave a little laugh. ‘You would think so. Our senior staff are excellent. But none of them have the talent of organisation. Valerie said that before you were a community midwife you were a ward sister. I think she thought it would be good to have a new broom, so to speak. Someone who didn’t have any preconceived ideas about CRMU and could bring some fresh ideas about how things should run.’ He gave a little sigh. ‘Our ward sister Abby has been gone less than two weeks and it’s chaos out there. She left sooner than expected and we obviously didn’t appreciate just how much she kept on top of things.’ He gave his head a little shake. ‘I’m feeling bad. I’m wondering if the stress of the ward was a factor in her pre-eclampsia.’

‘Is she okay?’ It was the first thing that sprang to mind.

He gave a quick nod and Bonnie shot him a smile. ‘In that case, you’re not making it sound like my dream job. Shouldn’t you be giving me the hard sell? And after our first meeting—do you really want to offer it to me at all?’ Jacob Layton wasn’t good at this. He was being too honest.

He groaned again and sat straighter, giving her a grin that sent tingles to her toes. ‘Let me start again. Bonnie Reid—from your extensive experience on your CV we’ve decided you would be a great addition to our team. You’ll know the reputation of Cambridge Royal Maternity Unit. We employ the best obstetricians and midwives and are known as a centre of medical excellence. We have links with Cambridge University and are pioneers in the development and research of many groundbreaking medical techniques. We have a great bunch of staff working in the labour delivery suite. We just need someone who can bring some new organisational skills to the ward.’ He leaned across the table towards her. ‘How’s that for the hard sell?’

She couldn’t pull her eyes away from his. He was closer to her than ever before. She could see every strand of his dark brown hair. See the tiny lines around his eyes. And exactly just how straight and white his teeth were.

He nodded towards her. ‘And yes, I do want to offer it to you. You’re the first person to answer back in about five years.’

Boy, he was handsome. But there was something else. Something so much more than just good looks. Beneath the flecks of gold in his eyes she could see another part of Jacob Layton. There was so much more there than a handsome but grumpy obstetrician. He seemed the single-minded, career-driven type. But what lay beneath the driven exterior?

She returned his smile. ‘That was much better.’

He relaxed back in his chair and she was almost sorry she’d replied. ‘Thank goodness.’ He was so much nicer like this. Why did he act so grumpy around the staff?

She took a deep breath. ‘I want this to work. I want this to work for me and for Freya—my little girl. This is a fresh start. I want to leave everything else behind us.’ She rolled her eyes and gave her head a little shake. ‘And I definitely want to leave men behind. I just want to focus on my new job and getting me and my daughter settled.’

Jacob gave a little nod of acknowledgement as he tapped his fingers on the desk. ‘The reason I asked about your childcare arrangements—if you’re working as ward sister we’d generally expect you to work nine to five. You’d only occasionally be expected to work late shifts if there were staffing issues, and join part of the hospital on-call rota to do weekends.’

Bonnie frowned. ‘How does that work?’

‘All of our ward sisters take turns in covering weekends. You’re not actually there as a member of the team that weekend. You’re covering the management for the whole hospital. Sorting out staffing problems, dealing with any difficult cases or issues across the whole of maternity. It usually works out once every nine weeks.’

Bonnie nodded. ‘That’s understandable. This would make things much easier with my childcare arrangements. Freya will be much happier if I’m working more or less regular hours. I’ll get to put her to bed most nights. And, as I’ve mentioned, Lynn will happily take Freya every weekday before and after school, and for the occasional late night or weekend.’ She gave a visible sigh of relief. ‘I’m happy to do the job—in fact, I’m really excited to be asked.’

He seemed relieved. ‘So you’ll take the job?’ His voice went up a little, as if he was still a bit anxious she might turn down this fabulous opportunity.

She stood up and held out her hand towards him. ‘Of course I will. I’m a little nervous but am sure in a few days it will feel like I’ve been here for weeks. That’s always the way of it, isn’t it?’

He smiled again; this time the relief was definitely reaching right up into his eyes. His hand grasped hers. There it was again.

She hadn’t been mistaken first time around. Coming into contact with Jacob Layton’s hand was doing strange things to her skin receptors—currently it was the dance of a thousand butterflies. Just as well she’d made it clear she was a man-free zone.

‘Perfect. I’ll let Valerie know you’ve accepted. She’ll arrange for a new contract.’ He held open the door for her. ‘Now, let’s go and tell the staff.’

Her stomach did another little flip-flop as she walked through, but she couldn’t work out if that was the thought of telling her new peers about her role, or from the burn coming from Jacob’s hand at the small of her back.

One thing was for sure—CRMU was going to be interesting.

CHAPTER TWO (#ulink_6d868942-22e4-52fb-84b6-b1a01c20d556)

JACOB HADN’T BEEN WRONG. The labour suite was in chaos. And it was all basics.

Bonnie grabbed a ward clerk and made some immediate requests about sorting out case notes, filing things appropriately and keeping the boards up to date. Then she asked for new lists of contact numbers. The one she found on the wall was obviously out of date and, with doctors changing every six months, she didn’t want any problems with pagers in case of emergency.

She spent the next two hours working with various members of staff and patients. After a few hours she was confident in the clinical capabilities of the staff that were on duty. They all wanted to do their jobs and work with patients. They just didn’t want to bother with ‘ward’ stuff. Ordering, stocking, rotas, outpatient appointments, pharmacy prescriptions. It quickly became apparent that her predecessor had dealt with all these things and her quick departure meant there had been no handover.

Bonnie gave a sigh. She’d like to spend all day working with patients too—but that wasn’t the way a ward was run. She started making a ‘to do’ list that she’d have to work her way through.

The other issue was the phones. They rang constantly—often with no one answering. First thing tomorrow she was going to ask about a regular ward clerk for the unit. Just as she finished making a few notes about the off-duty rota the phone rang again.

‘CRMU, Bonnie Reid, can I help you?’

‘Ambulance Control. We need a team on-site at a crash on one of the motorway slip roads. We have a trapped, unconscious pregnant woman. She’s reported to be thirty-four weeks. Ambulance is on its way to pick you up.’

Bonnie put down the phone. First day on the job. You had to be joking. She automatically dialled the page for the on-call obstetrician. Most big maternity units had supplies for emergencies like these. It was just a pity she hadn’t had a chance to find out where they were.

A few seconds later Jacob appeared from his office just as Bonnie was relaying the message to one of the senior midwives. He was holding his page. ‘What have we got?’

She handed over the piece of paper she’d scribbled on. Jacob gestured towards her. ‘Follow me. Equipment is in here. Grab a jacket and a bag.’ He turned to face her. ‘You are coming, aren’t you?’

She hesitated for only the briefest of seconds. ‘If you want me to.’

No. I’m terrified. This sounds like an initiation of fire. It’s my first day, I’ve just agreed to act as temporary sister in one of the most prestigious maternity units in the country and now you want me to be part of the emergency response team.

He acted as if he did this every day, grabbing a jacket with ‘Doctor’ emblazoned across the back and handing her the one with ‘Midwife’. He shot her a smile as he helped her lift the emergency pack onto her shoulders. ‘Let’s go. Leave instructions with Miriam, the senior midwife. She’ll deal with the calls until we get back.’ He walked away, his long strides crossing the corridor quickly, only stopping to wheel a portable incubator to the door.

She could feel the wave of panic lapping around her ankles. There was no way she could let it go any further. She started repeating in her head the list of emergencies that she’d dealt with on her own as a community midwife. She could do this. She could.

Miriam gave her a sympathetic nod as she handed over a few instructions. ‘I’m so glad it’s you and not me,’ she murmured under her breath.

‘What do you mean?’

Miriam rolled her eyes. ‘If you think Dan Daring is harsh on the ward, you should see him at a roadside emergency. The patients love him. The rest of the staff need counselling by the time he’s done.’

‘Let’s go, Bonnie!’ The shout made her jump and she hurried to the exit and into the back of the waiting ambulance. As soon as the doors closed and the sirens switched on they were on their way.

Sitting in the back of the ambulance was more than a little bumpy. She only just managed to avoid practically bouncing onto Jacob’s lap. But he barely noticed. He was holding on to the strap in the back with his eyes fixed on the road ahead.